WEI Short-Term Mission Statement

TO TEACH the Bible using the World English Institute material,

TO BUILD faith in God,

TO LEAD the students to Jesus Christ, and

TO ENCOURAGE and teach the local mission church members.

Opportunity Knocks

One of the most spiritually thrilling and rewarding experiences is to teach the word of God, one to one, to a hungry and thirsty soul. Time and again the WEI material is proving itself to be an effective short-term evangelistic tool that opens the door to such an experience.

World English Institute uses the Bible as an English text. It combines an English grammar course with Bible lessons beginning with creation and continuing through the plan of salvation. To complete the beginner course a student must study one hour per day, for 4 weeks, which is approximately 20 hours of Bible lessons. Teachers spend 5 minutes grading English grammar lessons prepared by the student as homework. They then spend the rest of the hour reading and discussing the Bible lesson, also prepared by the student as homework. Teachers will have 5—7 students per day. You do not have to be an English teacher. The material teaches itself and the students must have a working knowledge of the English language. We send out many short-term WEI Bible teaching teams every year, with plans to expand this ministry.

Make a Commitment

Teachers have the flexibility of committing for a 2 week mission, 3 week mission, 4 week mission, or 6 week mission. WEI short-term mission efforts are now being organized in cities all over the world where churches of Christ exist. We recruit Christian teachers year round, however, most of our teaching teams are organized for the summer months. Our teachers include: Doctors, Homemakers, Attorneys, Engineers, University Students, Teachers, Retired People, and others.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Mt. 28:19-20.

Teach and encourage Christians from different countries and cultures, while at the same time doing the most meaningful and important work we can do in this life. May we never tire of the task Jesus commissioned us to perform.

Costs and Responsibilities

All teachers are responsible for raising their own funds. Most home congregations are happy to help support their members who are willing to make the sacrifice to go and teach the word of God. Air fare will always be the greatest expense, normally constituting 60 to 70 percent of the total funds needed. Depending on many factors, air fare to most International gateway cities will range from $800 to $1800. WEI will be happy to recommend Travel Agencies we have used, which have consistently kept our travel costs at a minimum.

It is the responsibility of the teacher to properly prepare to teach the WEI material and agree to follow the WEI short-term mission philosophy. The mission philosophy, in short, states that no WEI teacher will intentionally seek to help students or international Christians come to the U.S. for any reason. We are not there to make Americans out of the foreign students. We go to make disciples of Christ.

Recruiting teachers from U.S. sponsoring churches to go and teach in the mission field they support is one of the goals of our short-term missions ministry.

Follow Up is Natural

This is the greatest concern of permanent missionaries. Lack of follow up is one of the aspects of short term teaching missions that give rise to justifiable criticism. Normally, it is physically impossible for missionaries to follow up on every student that studies with the short-term mission. They will, of course, continue to study with those who show the brightest potential to obey the gospel.

WEI is designed to be, and is a very effective Bible teaching correspondence course. Follow up can be accomplished by each teacher continuing the advanced lessons by way of correspondence. Teachers will have already developed a personal relationship with their students, thus giving added incentive to continue communication. Teachers continue to enjoy the spiritually thrilling and rewarding experiences of sharing their faith even after leaving the mission field. Students don’t feel the sudden abandonment of someone they have grown to respect and love. Many students in the past have come to the Lord through post short-term mission correspondence. There is no greater joy than to hear through email or letter that a former student has obeyed the gospel.

For this reason, we believe the WEI short-term mission approach to be the most responsible approach to short-term missions. The mission does not end when teachers return to America. Teachers must make a commitment to their students to continue the WEI advanced Bible lessons before they leave the mission field.